Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s job is safe. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ job is not. That’s the loud and clear message now coming from the Democrats in Congress, who have launched an aggressive campaign to force Sessions to resign over his role in the Trump-Russia scandal. It’s long been believed that Sessions’ ouster could give Donald Trump an opportunity to oust Muller as well – but it’s now clear that the Democrats no longer have that fear.

Democratic Senator Kamala Harris, who sits on the influential Senate Intelligence Committee, posted a petition on Thursday afternoon and announced “We want to collect 100,000 petition signatures this week calling on Jeff Sessions to resign.” (link). She’s not the only one. Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu appeared on cable news on Thursday and called for Sessions’ ouster. The Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have also just decided to haul in Sessions for public testimony next Tuesday, so they can grill him about his role in the Trump-Russia scandal. So what gives?

Several Republicans in Congress have long been protecting Jeff Sessions because he’s their former colleague and longtime friend. That’s worked in the Democrats’ favor, because Trump would have to fire Sessions and then fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in order to oust Robert Mueller. Now that George Papadopoulos and others have freshly implicated Sessions in the Trump-Russia scandal, it’s brought renewed scrutiny to Sessions’ earlier lies under oath about the scandal. The GOP no longer seems all that interested in protecting him – and the Democrats are seizing the opportunity to oust him.

This means the Democrats in Congress have concluded, for reasons that haven’t yet been revealed to us, that Robert Mueller’s job security is 100% safe. Thus they’re preparing to force the resignation or firing of Jeff Sessions, both because it’ll bring an end to his racist and unconstitutional reign as Attorney General, and because his ouster will turn the Trump-Russia scandal into an even bigger nightmare for Donald Trump.